Casey Jones, railroad engineer

died 122 years ago, April 30, 1900

The Train Wreck

This weekend marks the 122st anniversary of a legendary train wreck on the Illinois Central Railroad’s run from Memphis to Canton, Mississippi. That night the engineer was trying to make up time and was said to have reached speeds up to 100 mph.  As his locomotive approached Vaughan, Mississippi he saw another train stalled on the track in front of him. He quickly braked, called out to his fireman to jump and be saved, all the while working to slow the train. It was too late. He plowed through three and a half cars before the train finally came to rest. When the dust settled, not one passenger was seriously injured but the brave engineer, Casey Jones, had perished.

It could have ended there, a headline in the papers and another railroad widow to weep but that was not the fate of Casey Jones, the brave engineer. Casey was destined to become a folk hero. 21 years ago, my partner at the Western Folklife Center, Taki Telonidis, and I produced a radio documentary to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the famous wreck. If you could spare a little under ten minutes I guarantee this audio account will take you back in time placing you on the train that fateful night.  Trust me. It is better to listen to the account than read it. Click on Casey

9:44 from Western Folklife Center and first broadcast on NPR’s Weekend Sunday, April 30, 2001.

Folk Hero

Casey Jones is undoubtedly an American Folk hero but to understand why, it takes a bit of unraveling. Becoming an folk hero is not a simple matter. Many people have aspired to it but aspiration, pretty much, always backfires. The ghosts who judge folk heroes see through the hype and they are selective in how they retell the story. Folk heroes need to impart universal lessons. That is the pact. We can poke holes through any folk hero myth but that’s not the point.

There are even naysayers about Casey Jones even though there’s good documentary evidence that his quick and selfless action saved lives. Yes, he was hot rodding across country trying to make up time. And it is unlikely he had any clue that another train was stuck on his track. These were the days when train engineers were considered heroic in the way that fighter pilots are today. Remember, before trains came along you traveled by walking or horsepower. Locomotives were cutting-edge technology. Add to that a dose of tragedy and a catchy song and you have the ingredients for legend and folk hero status.

The Radio Story

It was totally by a chance conversation with the Western Folklife Center’s archivist, Steve Green, that my producing partner, Taki Telonidis and I discovered that there existed a first-hand  recorded account of the famous train wreck from none other than Casey’s Jones’s fireman, Simeon (Sim) Webb. Webb passed away in 1957 so this was an old recording, but Steve had access to it. I hurriedly looked up the date of the disaster and as it happened, we were coming up on the 100-year anniversary. If we worked hard, we could produce it in time for airing. We pitched the story and got an enthusiastic thumbs up from Weekend Sunday Morning. I’m proud of our radio production. It remains one of our top stories. The way Taki used the music as he edited brings that time alive. 

Partners

Thinking of the partnership between Casey Jones and Sim Webb, the engineer and fireman, makes me reflect on the wonderful work partners I’ve had over the years. I’ve been blessed with mentors, good friends and work and bandmates but there has always been a primary partner who I leaned on through thick and thin. As a folklorist, working with Carol Edison at the Utah Arts Council was such a partnership. That was followed by Meg Glaser at the Western Folklife Center and then Taki Telonidis in our work producing radio and television. I’ve also had music partners such as Brent Bradford, Tom Carter, Stephen Jardine, Leonard Coulson and Phillip Bimstein.  In recent years my musical partner has been Greg Istock as we create the songs for 3hattrio. All these partners have helped avert more train wrecks than I can count.